Timeline of Orthodoxy in Greece

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The History of the Church is a vital part of the Orthodox Christian faith. Orthodox Christians are defined significantly by their continuity with all those who have gone before, those who first received and preached the truth of Jesus Christ to the world, those who helped to formulate the expression and worship of our faith, and those who continue to move forward in the unchanging yet ever-dynamic Holy Tradition of the Orthodox Church.

This is a timeline regarding the presence of Orthodoxy in Greece. The history of Greece traditionally encompasses the study of the Greek people, the areas they ruled historically, as well as the territory now composing the modern state of Greece.

Christianity was first brought to the geographical area corresponding to modern Greece by the Apostle Paul, although the church’s apostolicity also rests upon St. Andrew who preached the gospel in Greece and suffered martyrdom in Patras (c. 66 AD), Titus, Paul’s companion who preached the gospel in Crete where he became bishop, Philip who, according to the tradition, visited and preached in Athens, Luke the Evangelist who was martyred in Thebes, and John the Theologian who was exiled on the island of Patmos where he received the Revelation recorded in the last book of the New Testament. Thus Greece became the first European area to accept the gospel of Christ. Towards the end of the 2nd century the early apostolic bishoprics had developed into metropolitan sees in the most important cities. Such were the sees of Thessaloniki, Corinth, Nicopolis, Philippi and Athens. By the 4th century almost the entire Balkan peninsula constituted the Exarchate of Illyricum which was under the jurisdiction of the bishop of Rome.[1]

In the twentieth century during much of the period of communism, the Church of Greece saw itself as a guardian of Orthodoxy. It cherishes its place as the cradle of the primitive church and the Greek clergy are still present in the historic places of Istanbul and Jerusalem, and Cyprus.[2] The autocephalous Church of Greece is organised into 81 dioceses, however 30 of these are nominally under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople but are administered as part of the Church of Greece; the dioceses of Crete, the Dodecanese, and Mount Athos are under the direct jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople.

The population of Greece is 11.1 million (UN, 2007), 98% of which are Greek Orthodox (CIA World Factbook).

Apostolic era (33-100)

  • ca. 47-48 Apostle Paul's mission to Cyprus.
  • ca. 49 Paul's mission to Philippi, Thessaloniki and Veria.
  • 49 Paul's mission to Athens.
  • ca. 51-52 Metropolis of Korinthos founded in its Apostolic form (Paul's first mission to Corinth); Paul writes his two Epistles to the Thessalonians are written in
  • ca. 54 Paul writes his First Epistle to the Corinthians.
  • ca. 55 Paul revisits Corinth.
  • ca. 56 Paul revisits Macedonia; he writes his Second Epistle to the Corinthians.
  • ca. 61 Paul shipwrecked in Crete.
  • ca. 95 Apocalypse of John written on the island of Patmos.
  • ca. 96 Dionysius the Areopagite, of the Seventy, martyred.
  • 124 Apostles Quadratus and Aristides present Christian apologies to Emperor Hadrian at Athens.
  • ca. 130 Death of Apostle Quadratus, of the Seventy.

Ante-Nicene era (100-325)

  • ca. 100 During the second and third centuries, Greece was divided into provinces including Achaea, Macedonia, and Moesia.
  • ca. 251 Martyric death of Isidore of Chios under the persecutions of Decius.
  • 306 Martyric death of Demetrios in Thessaloniki.
  • 313 The first period in the history of the Church ended with the edict of toleration in 313 under Constantine the Great, which prepared the way for Christianity to become the state religion of the later Roman/Byzantine empire.

Patriarchate of Rome Era (325-732)

Nicene era (325-451)

  • 325 First Ecumenical Council held in Nicea, condemning Arianism, setting the Paschalion, and issuing the first version of the Nicene Creed, also establishing the supremacy of honor of the Apostolic Sees as Rome, followed by Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem.
  • ca. 337 Under Constantine the Great Greece was part of the prefectures of Macedonia and Thrace.
  • ca. 330-337 Church of Panagia Ekatontapyliani - Hundred Doors (Paros) (literally: "church of the hundred doors") founded by St. Helen, during her pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
  • ca. 395 Theodosius I divided the prefecture of Macedonia into the provinces of Creta, Achaea, Thessalia, Epirus Vetus, Epirus Nova, and Macedonia; the Aegean islands formed the province of Insulae in the prefecture of Asiana.
  • ca. 431 Church of Cyprus autocephalous.

Early Byzantine era (451-843)

  • 529 Emperor Justinian closes the School of Athens.
  • 529-534 Justinian's Corpus Juris Civilis issued; Justinian's Novella 131 formulated the proposed government of universal Christendom by five patriarchal sees under the auspices of a single universal empire (Pentarchy).
  • ca. 590 Parthenon in Athens converted into a Christian church dedicated to Aghia Sophia.
  • 662 Parthenon in Athens rededicated to the Mother of God (Panagia of Athens).
  • Mid 6th c. Death of David of Thessaloniki.
  • Late 6th c. St. Demetrios of Thessaloniki saves Thessaloniki from Avar-Slav siege.
  • 692 The "Pentarchy" form of government of universal Christendom by five patriarchal sees received formal ecclesiastical sanction at the Council in Trullo (692), which ranked the five sees as Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem.
  • 7th c. Arab pirates attack coastal areas, many islands deserted.
  • 720 Martyrdom of Nicholas the New of Vounina.

Patriarchate of Constantinople Era (732-1850)

Byzantine Imperial era (843-1204)

Latin Occupation (1204-1456)

  • 1204 Fourth Crusade sacks Constantinople, laying waste to the city and stealing many relics and other items; Great Schism generally regarded as having been completed by this act; Venetians use the imperial monastery of Christ Pantocrator as their headquardters in Constantinople; Latin Occupation of mainland Greece under Franks and Venetians.
  • ca. 1204-75 Martyrdom by Latins of monks of Iveron Monastery.
  • 1211 Venetian crusaders conquer Byzantine Crete, retaining it until ousted by Ottoman Turks in 1669.
  • 1222 The Byzantines recover Thessaloniki.
  • 1235 St. Olympiada and nuns martyred by pirates on Mytilene of Lesbos
  • 1249 Mystras citadel built by Franks in the Peloponnese.
  • 1259 Byzantines defeat Latin Principality of Achaea at the Battle of Pelagonia, marking the beginning of the Byzantine recovery of Greece.
  • 1261 End of Latin occupation of Constantinople and restoration of Orthodox patriarchs; Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos makes Mystras seat of the new Despotate of Morea, where a Byzantine renaissance occurred.
  • 1274 Orthodox attending the Second Council of Lyons, accept supremacy of Rome and filioque clause.
  • 1275 Persecution of Athonite monks by Emp. Michael VIII and Patr. John XI Beccus; death of 26 martyrs of Zographou monastery on Mount Athos, martyred by the Latins.
  • 1281 Pope Martin IV authorizes a Crusade against the newly re-established Byzantine Empire in Constantinople, excommunicating Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos and the Greeks and renouncing the union of 1274; French and Venetian expeditions set out toward Constantinople but are forced to turn back in the following year due to the Sicilian Vespers.
  • 1283 Accommodation with Rome officially repudiated.
  • 1309 Rhodes falls to the Knights of St. John, who establish their headquarters there, renaming themselves the "Knights of Rhodes"
  • 1336 Meteora in Greece are established as a center of Orthodox monasticism.
  • 1338 Gregory Palamas writes Triads in defense of the Holy Hesychasts, defending the Orthodox practice of hesychast spirituality and the use of the Jesus Prayer.
  • 1341-47 Byzantine civil war between John VI Cantacuzenus (1347–54) and John V Palaeologus (1341–91).
  • 1341-51 Three sessions of the Ninth Ecumenical Council held in Constantinople, affirming hesychastic theology of Gregory Palamas and condemning rationalistic philosophy of Barlaam of Calabria.
  • 1354 Ottoman Turks make first settlement in Europe at Gallipoli.
  • 1359 Death of Gregory Palamas.
  • 1360 Death of John Koukouzelis the Hymnographer.
  • 1382 Founding of the Great Meteora Monastery.
  • 1390 Ottomans take Philadelphia, last significant Byzantine enclave in Anatolia.
  • 1391-98 Ottoman Turks unsuccessfully besiege Constantinople for the first time.
  • 14th c. "Golden Age" of Thessaloniki, many churches and monasteries are built.
  • 1422 Second unsuccessful Ottoman siege of Constantinople.
  • 1426 Death of New Martyr Ephraim of Nea Makri.
  • 1429 The Turks capture Thessaloniki.
  • 1430 The monks of Mount Athos submit to Sultan Murad II and keep their autonomy.
  • 1438 Council of Florence unsuccessfully tries to unit Greek East and Latin West.
  • 1450 Death of Empress Helena Palaeologus (St. Ipomoni of Loutraki).
  • 1452 Unification of Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox Churches in Hagia Sophia on West's terms, when Emperor Constantine XI Palaiologos, under pressure from Rome, allows the union to be proclaimed.
  • 1453 Constantinople falls to invasion of the Ottoman Turks, ending Roman Empire; Hagia Sophia turned into a mosque; martyrdom of Constantine XI Palaiologos, last of the Byzantine Emperors; many Greek scholars escape to the West with books that become translated into Latin, triggering the Renaissance.

Ottoman Turkish Occupation (1456-1821)

Greek War of Independence (1821-1829)

First Hellenic Republic (1829-1832)

  • ca. 1829 The purified and formal Katharevousa dialect of Modern Greek is promoted as the official language (to 1976).
  • 1832 European powers establish Greek protectorate; Otho I enthroned as Greek King.

Kingdom of Greece (1833-1924)

Autocephalous Era (1850-Present)

  • 1850 Autocephaly of the Church of Greece recognised by Patriarch Anthimos IV of Constantinople; due to certain conditions issued in the "Tomos" decree, the Greek National Church must maintain special links to the "Mother Church".
  • 1863 George I enthroned as King of Greece.
  • 1866 Greek church takes the diocese of the Ionian Islands from Constantinople; the holocaust of Arkadi Monastery in Crete.
  • 1871 Body of Patriarch Gregory V returned to Athens and entombed in cathedral.
  • 1877 Death of Arsenios of Paros (August 18).
  • 1878 Council of Athens, convened and presided over by Metropolitan Procopius I of Athens, condemned the Makrakists, obtaining closure of Makakris' "School of the Logos" on the pretext that it taught doctrines opposed to the tenets of the Church, and addressed an encyclical to the whole body of Christians in Greece that was read in the churches, charging Makrakis with attempting to introduce innovations.
  • 1881 Turks cede Thessali and Arta regions to Greece; Thessaly and part of Epirus added to the Church of Greece.
  • 1888 Death of Panagis of Lixouri (Cephalonia).
  • 1890-1917 Emigration of 450,000 Greeks to the United States, many as hired labor for the railroads and mines of the American West.
  • 1901 "Evangelakia" riots in Athens Greece in November, over translations of New Testament into Demotic (Modern) Greek, resulting in fall of both government and Metropolitan of Athens, and withdrawal of publications from circulation.
  • 1904 Ecumenical Patriarchate publishes the "Patriarchal" Text of the Greek New Testament, based on about twenty Byzantine manuscripts, the standard text of the Greek-speaking Orthodox churches today.
  • 1905 Death of Apostolos Makrakis.
  • 1907 Archim. Eusebius Matthopoulos founds Zoe Brotherhood.
  • 1912 Epirus, Macedonia and eastern islands, from Northern territories of Greece, are liberated and come under the administration of the Greek Church.
  • 1912-13 First and Second Balkan Wars; liberation of Thessaloniki from the Turks.
  • 1913-14 Greeks anex Crete, Chios and Mytiline, World War I.
  • 1917 Hierarchy of the Greek Church changed in accordance with political control of the country.
  • 1918-24 Emigration of 70,000 Greeks to the United States.
  • 1919-22 Greco-Turkish War; a million refugees flee to Greece joining half a million Greeks who had fled earlier; Pontic Greek Genocide eliminates the Christian population of Trebizond.
  • 1920 Death of Nektarios of Pentapolis (Aegina); Dodecanese Islands ceded to Greece by Italy.
  • 1922 Metropolis of Aitolia and Akarnania founded in its modern form; death of Ethnomartyr Metropolitan Chrysostomos (Kalafatis) of Smyrna, lynched by a Turkish mob Sunday September 10; Greek troops advancing on Constantinople are routed by Turks; the predominatly Orthodox Christian city of Smyrna is destroyed, ending 1900 years of Christian civilization.
  • 1923 Exchange of Christian and Moslem population between Greece and Turkey; Treaty of Lausanne hands over control of the Holy Mountain to Greece; Patriarch ceases to be regarded as head of the Christian Orthodox Millet in Turkey; Patriarch Meletios Metaxakis promulgates reformed calendar.

Second Hellenic Republic (1924-1935)

Kingdom of Greece Restored (1935-1967)

Military Dictatorship (1967-1974)

Third Hellenic Republic (1974-Present)

See also

Notes

  • Some of these dates are necessarily a bit vague, as records for some periods are particularly difficult to piece together accurately.
  • The division of Church History into separate eras as we do here will always be to some extent arbitrary, though we have tried to group periods according to major watershed events.
  • This timeline is necessarily biased toward the history of the Orthodox Church, though a number of non-Orthodox events are mentioned for their importance in history related to Orthodoxy.

Patriarchate of Rome

The Byzantine "themes" of Greece rebelled against the iconoclast emperor Leo III in 727 and attempted to set up their own emperor, although Leo defeated them. Up to this time Greece and the Aegean were still technically under the ecclesiastic authority of the Pope, but Leo also quarreled with the Papacy; the defiant attitude of Popes St. Gregory II and St. Gregory III, who summoned councils in Rome to anathematize and excommunicate the iconoclasts (730, 732) on behalf of image-veneration, led to a fierce quarrel with the emperor. Leo retaliated however by transferring the territories of southern Italy, Greece and the Aegean from the papal diocese to that of the the Patriarch of Constantinople, in effect throwing the Papacy out of the Empire.
Previously the lands which Leo ΙΙΙ now placed under the authority of the Church of Constantinople, although subject to the civil rule of the emperor of Constantinople ever since the end of 395, had nevertheless depended upon Rome ecclesiastically, except for a few brief interruptions including:

  • In 421 (when a decree enacted by Emperor Theodosius II placed all churches within the pale of the Illyricum prefecture (then part of the Eastern Empire) subject to the Archbishop of Constantinople).
  • In 438, through the Theodosian Codex, Illyricum was again placed under Constantinopolitan jurisdiction.
  • To some extent during the Acacian schism, 484-519.

Praetorian Prefecture of Illyricum

The Prefecture of Illyricum was named after the former province of Illyricum and was one of the four principal divisions of the Empire instituted by Diocletian. It originally included two dioceses, the Diocese of Pannoniae and the Diocese of Moesiae. The Diocese of Pannoniae did not belong to the cultural Greek half of the empire, and it was transferred to the western empire when Theodosius I fixed the final split of the two empires in 395.

The Diocese of Moesiae (later split into two dioceses: the Diocese of Macedonia and the Diocese of Dacia) was the area known as "Eastern Illyricum", and in view of the detailed list of provinces given by Pope Nicholas Ι (858-67) in a letter in which he demanded the retrocession of the churches removed from papal jurisdiction in 732-33, this area seems to have been the region affected by Emperor Leo's punitive action.

  • The Diocese of Macedonia consisted of seven provinces: Achaia, Creta, Thessalia, Epirus vetus, Epirus nova, Macedonia Prima, Macedoniae salutaris (Secunda).
  • The Diocese of Dacia consisted of five provinces: Dacia mediterranea, Dacia ripensis, Moesia Prima, Dardania, Praevalitana.

Names of the Greeks

The Greeks have been known by a number of different names throughout history. Their rise to great heights of power and lapse to near complete destruction were situations that were repeated more than once, which is perhaps why they are such a polyonymous people. The onset of every new historical era was accompanied by a new name, either completely new or old but forgotten, extracted from tradition or borrowed from foreigners. Every single one of them was significant in its own time. From ancient times to the present these included:

  • Achaeans (Αχαιοί)
  • Hellenes (Έλληνες)
  • Graeci (Γραικοί)
  • Romans (Ρωμαίοι)
  • Byzantines (Βυζαντινοί)

Church and State

The Orthodox Church in Greece has been considered historically as the protector of the so-called “Hellenic Orthodox Civilization.” The actual role of the Orthodox Church since the creation of the Greek nation-state has been interpreted in many diverse and opposing ways; nevertheless, in all Greek Constitutions the Orthodox Church is accorded the status of the “prevailing religion".
Article 3 of Greece's Constitution defines the relations between the Church and the State :

"The prevailing religion in Greece is that of the Eastern Orthodox Church of Christ. The Orthodox Church of Greece, acknowledging our Lord Jesus Christ as its head, is inseparably united in doctrine with the Great Church of Christ in Constantinople and with every other Church of Christ of the same doctrine, observing unwaveringly, as they do, the holy apostolic and synodal canons and sacred traditions. It is autocephalous and is administered by the Holy Synod of serving Bishops and the Permanent Holy Synod originating thereof and assembled as specified by the Statutory Charter of the Church in compliance with the provisions of the Patriarchal Tome of June 29, 1850 and the Synodal Act of September 4, 1928."[3]

Greece is the only Orthodox state in the world. The relationship between the Church and the State can be characterized as sui generis, since there is no complete separation nor is there an established church. The Church is the State-Church. The role of the Orthodox Church in maintaining Greek ethnic and cultural identity during the 400 years of Ottoman rule has strengthened the bond between religion and government. Most Greeks, whether personally religious or not, revere and respect the Orthodox Christian faith, attend church and major feast days, and are emotionally attached to Orthodox Christianity as their "national" religion.

References

  1. World Council of Churches: Church of Greece.
  2. The Globe and Mail (Canada's National Newspaper). "Orthodox Church at Crossroads." November 10, 1995. p.A14.
  3. "Religion of Greece." at Greece Index.

Published works

Byzantine Era

  • Andrew Louth. Greek East and Latin West : the church, AD 681-1071. Crestwood, N.Y. : St. Vladimirs Seminary Press, 2007.
  • Milton V. Anastos. Aspects of the Mind of Byzantium (Political Theory, Theology, and Ecclesiastical Relations with the See of Rome). Ashgate Publications, Variorum Collected Studies Series, 2001.
  • Milton V. Anastos. "The transfer of Illyricum, Calabria, and Sicily to the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in 732-33." In: Anastos, Studies in Byzantine Intellectual History. Variorum Collected Studies Series, London, 1979.
  • Timothy S. Miller. Medieval Byzantine Christianity. Ed. by Derek Krueger. [A People's History of Christianity, vol. 3]. Minneapolis, Fortress Press. 2006. pp.252.

Latin Occupation

  • Deno John Geanakoplos. Byzantine East and Latin West: Two worlds of Christendom in Middle Ages and Renaissance; studies in ecclesiastical and cultural history. Oxford Blackwell 1966.
  • William Miller. The Latins in the Levant: A History of Frankish Greece 1204-1566. Cambridge, Speculum Historiale, 1908.

Ottoman Turkish Occupation

  • Giles Milton. Paradise Lost: Smyrna 1922: The Destruction of Islam's City of Tolerance. Hodder & Stoughton Ltd., London, 2008.
  • George A. Maloney, (S.J.). A History of Orthodox Theology Since 1453. Norland Publishing, Massachusetts, 1976.
  • Speros Vryonis, (Jr). The Decline of Medieval Hellenism in Asia Minor and the Process of Islamization from the Eleventh through the Fifteenth Century. University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1971.
  • Steven Runciman. The Great Church in Captivity: A Study of the Patriarchate of Constantinople from the Eve of the Turkish Conquest to the Greek War of Independence. Cambridge University Press,1986.
  • Theodore H. Papadopoulos. Studies and Documents Relating to the History of the Greek Church and People Under Turkish Domination. 2nd ed. Variorum, Hampshire, Great Britain, 1990.
Articles
  • Elizabeth A. Zachariadou. The Great Church in captivity 1453–1586. Eastern Christianity. Ed. Michael Angold. Cambridge University Press, 2006. Cambridge Histories Online.
  • Elizabeth A. Zachariadou. Mount Athos and the Ottomans c. 1350–1550. Eastern Christianity. Ed. Michael Angold. Cambridge University Press, 2006. Cambridge Histories Online.
  • I. K. Hassiotis. From the 'Refledging' to the 'Illumination of the Nation': Aspects of Political Ideology in the Greek Church Under Ottoman Domination. Balkan Studies 1999 40(1): 41-55.
  • Socrates D. Petmezas. Christian Communities in Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Century Ottoman Greece: Their Fiscal Functions. Princeton Papers: Interdisciplinary Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 2005 12: 71-127.

Greek War of Independence

  • David Brewer. The Greek War of Independence : the struggle for freedom from Ottoman oppression and the birth of the modern Greek nation. Woodstock, N.Y. : Overlook Press, 2001. 393pp.
  • Douglas Dakin. The Greek struggle for independence, 1821-1833. London, Batsford 1973.
  • George Tsoulios and Tasos Hadjis. Historical Album of the Greek War of Independence 1821: An Illustrated Chronicle. 2 Vols. Transl. Kypros Psyllides and Patroclos Stavrou. Melissa, Athens, [197-].
  • Joseph Braddock. The Greek Phoenix. The Struggle for Liberty from the Fall of Constantinople to the Creation of a New Greek Nation. NY. Coward, McCann & Geoghegan. 1973. 1st ed. 233pp.
  • Theodōros Kolokotrōnēs (1770-1843). Memoirs from the Greek war of Independence, 1821-1833. Transl. from the Greek text of G. Tertzetis. Chicago Argonaut Publishers 1969. 353pp.
  • Hellenism and the first Greek war of liberation (1821-1830) : continuity and change. Ed. by Nikiforos P. Diamandouros [et al], on behalf of the Modern Greek Studies Association of the United States and Canada. Thessaloniki : Institute for Balkan Studies, 1976.

Modern Greece

  • Anastasios Anastassiadis. Religion and Politics in Greece: The Greek Church's 'Conservative Modernization' in the 1990's. Research in Question, No.11, January 2004. (PDF).
  • C.M. Woodhouse. Modern Greece. 4th ed. Boston : Faber and Faber, 1986.
  • Charles A. Frazee. The Orthodox Church and independent Greece, 1821-1852. Cambridge University Press 1969.
  • John Hadjinicolaou (Ed.). Synaxis: an anthology of the most significant Orthodox theology in Greece appearing in the journal Synaxē from 1982 to 2002. Montréal : Alexander Press, 2006.